This will be the first ever Indiana University President’s Concert, and the Indianapolis event is free to university students and Bloomington residents. Since the departure of former Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra music director Mario Venzago, the orchestra has had a rotating stable of accomplished guest conductors and maestros. For the President’s Concert, the orchestra will utilize Juanjo Mena, former music director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in Spain and a current guest conductor with Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Also playing in the concert will be IU’s own Alexander Kerr, performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Kerr is no stranger to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; he has been a guest concertmaster with the orchestra for some time. A professor at IU’s vaunted Jacobs School of Music, Kerr has also been the concertmaster for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.